Taunton man charged with selling heroin

Police detectives arrested a Taunton teen on a heroin charge late Monday afternoon, after following up on complaints about drug dealing on Kilton Street.

Police said they initially spotted 18-year-old Lorenze Carlos Daveiga, of 28 Lowell St., conducting a transaction with a known heroin user on the corner of Oak and Kilton streets.

Detectives said they followed Daveiga as he walked six blocks to a small apartment house at 40 Tremont St., where he entered a side door and came back outside within seconds.

Police said there have been five reported heroin overdoses since the beginning of the year at that apartment, which they said has become known as a heroin flophouse where the drug is sold and people shoot up.

Detectives said when they approached Daveiga after he had walked back to Kilton Street, he took off running through backyards, during which he tossed aside a clear plastic bag.

Police said they retrieved the bag and that it contained nearly 6 grams of a light tan substance that tested positive for heroin.

Daveiga was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute heroin and resisting arrest.

The city has been plagued by an unusually high number of heroin overdoses during the past few months.

Police say dealers have been cutting cheap, weak heroin with the powerful painkiller Fentanyl to increase its potency and attract buyers. As a result, many users have actively sought it out, despite the consequences, police said.

Seven people have died from heroin-related overdoses in Taunton since the beginning of 2014, police said. All told there have been more than 70 overdoses, they said.

The Taunton Police Department’s street crimes detective unit conducted the Kilton Street surveillance with assistance from members of the New Bedford office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.